Chapter 28: Emerging Different

Chell dragged herself out from the zipper. Dean was just waiting there, two miracles competing for his awe.

“Wow!” He exclaimed.

She looked like something from a swamp.

“What happened in there?”

Beautiful bright light smiled on them. A heaping hunk of metal and springs was scattered on the ground.

“Nothing good.” She said in a somber tone.

A part of Dean wanted to press her, but he could see she wasn’t up for it.

“So have you seen the world?” He smiled.

“Huh?”

She turned around. Her eyes were poked with thorns and needles.

“Oh my God…”

GLaDOS really had taken the facility with her. She couldn’t manage without the vessel she was so used to. The light came from up, up above.

“It’s… beautiful.”

“Yeah.”

Patches of forest danced into the distance, swaying in the wind and feeding on fields of grain. And the light… the light washed away the darkness and the halos. The light stretched into parts of the facility that hadn’t seen it before. The hum seemed to subside, as if the factory lines had ceased and the turrets had gazed out the window.

“We’re really in the middle of nowhere huh?” Dean said.

“Looks that way.” She grinned.

The goop melted off her jumpsuit. Her skin shone and Dean could feel her light washing over him. It overtook the stubborn white in the misty room, relegated to the corners of the wall.

They sat there on the edge of the facility, taking it all in. The warm light made them realize how cold they had been. They looked into the sky and then at each other, and then at the sky again. They kept doing it until they couldn’t tell the difference.

And they did that for a few minutes before Chell pulled him to her lips quite spontaneously. And they kissed like they had for the first time, warm in each other’s presence.  And after they watched everything for a little longer, Chell asked:

“Are you ready?”

“Think so.”

She stood up on her feet and leaned forward, grinning. She crouched down.

“Wait what’re you-”

She leapt forward into the grass, and Dean screamed in terror. 

…

But she landed on her long fall boots of course.

“What’s the matter with you?” She laughed.

“I dunno.” He laughed harder.

The ground felt a little uneven. Even as the sun pierced through the day, the air was a little unclear, as if the misty room stretched into the breeze. On his level, Dean could swear he saw the air itself twitching. He could see little pieces of soot tiptoeing onto his skin.

It was hard - impossible, to care. The light breeze blew every concern away. The air washed out unhappy thoughts.  And after they had walked in the grass for a little, Chell lay down on her back. 

“Nope, I need a nap.” She said. 

But really, she just looked up at the sky. And Dean did too.

She untied the jumpsuit from her legs and kicked her boots off in the grass. Dean took his ring off, and not knowing what to do, he dropped it on the ground. He took the little shard of glass out from his cloak. and looking at his reflection, he hardly recognized himself.

The End